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to those who think that "its still early in recruiting" go take a quick glance at the recruiting lists in the Sunday DMN. There has been a huge emphasis on early recruiting in recent years and more than half of the top recruits have already committed 5 months before signing date.

Yeah, but there's also a ton of guys who aren't listing SMU yet, but will end up considering the Ponies like other late-deciding commits in recent years -- guys like Cortley Blackmon, Tony Hawkins, David Haynes, etc., weren't on the early lists of guys who were looking at SMU. I'm pretty glad the coaches didn't give up on them just because SMU wasn't on a list provided by a company (DMN runs rivals.com's top 100 lists) whose primary goal is to sell website subscriptions.

giacfsp wrote: I'm pretty glad the coaches didn't give up on them just because SMU wasn't on a list provided by a company... whose primary goal is to sell website subscriptions.

Excellent, excellent point.

yep you guys are right there will always be players left at the bottom of the barrell for teams that aren't successful getting the recruits they really want. SMU is such a great example of how successful a bottom fisher can really be!!!!!!!

Stallion, even you do not believe that we have bottom fished for the last couple of years.

Let's just say I think there are some highly hyped players who Bennett talks about on signing date who were not among the top 10-15 players Bennett offered or would like to have offered at their particular position. Now in the old days all 25 recruits in SMU's class were like that-now I'll admit its less. But let's be honest-Bennett may very well think a recruit is a good prospect. But often the other 10 kids he really wanted at that position are playing elsewhere. I won't call it bottom fishing but since the day we got blown out by OSU and after 13 losses in a row its been pretty difficult to get the top line guys-Bennett under the circumstances has so far kept his head above water since-not excelled. Just as with Mike Cavan this is when the hard part starts. The DMN Lists were not exactly filled a great news even in comparison to the last few years. In fact, it was pretty depressing if you are able to step back and take an unprejudiced view.

Well of course we didn't always get the top player - and presumably Coach Bennett's top choice - at each position. The schools that do that are the OU's and LSU's and Miami's of the world -- teams with national profiles/exposure, recent bowls/rankings, etc. But to suggest we're merely bottom feeders now is ludicrous. There are guys who have joined the team in recent years who wouldn't have even looked at SMU 5 years ago. The caliber of recruits coming to SMU has gone up by leaps and bounds, and to suggest that it's the same old situation as before is simply inaccurate. I'm as eager as anyone to see this team win a conference title (OK, let's start with winning some games), but I recognize that the players must be acquired, then developed and coached. Those players are now coming to SMU, and the growth and progress already is evident. We all saw the improved speed and athleticism Saturday (see Cory Muse, Desmond Jones, Charles Akinyemi, et al), and the results (in terms of wins) are on the way.